I love you great grandpa
though I did not know you,
the blood in my veins
freshly mirrors your pain
Just what were you thinking
when you left kith and kin
to find some mean place
there to hide with no trace?
Just what were you thinking
when you sat by yourself
in some lonely room
your thoughts focused on doom?
Just what were you thinking
in your two-hour wait
while tears fell like rain
with no end to your pain?
Just what were you thinking
when you wrote out a note
and told your dear wife
you were ending life's strife?
Just what were you thinking
when you picked up your gun,
placed muzzle to head
knowing soon you'd be dead?
I love you great grandpa
though I can't understand
what hurt you so much;
never feeling love's touch
I love you great grandpa,
though now all that lives
are those crumbling lines
from 1929
Though years have passed by
and I live far away
I question in vain
and repeat this refrain:
Just what were you thinking
when you took your own life
on that winter morn
long before I was born?
For my ancestor, Louis Pauli


